‘Huge misunderstanding' prompts lockdown of schools in 2 districts

FOX CHAPEL, Pa. - Schools in two area districts were briefly placed on lockdown Thursday morning after someone reported a man making a threatening remark.

According to O’Hara police, a person who works in RIDC Park heard a man talking on his cellphone say, “He was going to shoot everyone at the school.”

Police were notified and used cellphone towers to ping the man’s phone, which showed his location in Oakmont. The location service was off, however, because a tower near the Hulton Bridge was torn down.

That led to the lockdown of the Riverview School District.

Upon further investigation, officers thought the man’s daughter attended a school in the Fox Chapel School District.

Police briefly placed all schools in that district on lockdown as well. But as it turns out, officers said, the man’s daughter actually attends Springdale.

Investigators said the man’s daughter broke her leg and was not permitted into the school with her crutches because they could be used as a weapon -- causing the man to make the remark. Police later learned the girl got a doctor’s note and was allowed in.

The man was not charged. Police said both district lockdowns were a “huge misunderstanding.”